You may recall that Thursday afternoon I had a meeting with the Jewish Agency in Bet She'an who works closely with the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, its partner city. At this meeting, in addition to talking about the hospitality available to me while I am here, we also talked about groups, organizations, and people I know that will be visiting Bet She'an from Cleveland over the summer. The first group that comes to Bet She'an is the group Israel-Cleveland Next (ICNext for short). ICNext is a group of high school students that spend two years learning about "the core issues of Israeli society and the geopolitical situation in Israel today" and "initiating, organizing and galvanizing peer involvement in educational, political and cultural activities designed to build support for the State of Israel" (quote from their website). Part of their program is connecting with Israeli students their age and traveling to Israel to get a first-hand look at what they learn about back in Cleveland.
Since I am very involved in the Jewish community in Cleveland I know quite a few of the people on the program, as well as some of the staff members. For this reason I thought it would be good and fun to spend some time with them while they were in the "neighborhood". Avigail, a staff member of the Partnership office in Bet She'an, set up the meeting between me and ICNext on Friday morning. I went with another of the staff of the Jewish Agency to meet ICNext at Kibbutz Nir David, a kibbutz just outside of Bet She'an and ate lunch with them in the cafeteria. After lunch we all went to a private part of the river that runs through the kibbutz and feeds the natural springs known as Gan HaShlosha or Sachne. We spent the afternoon there relaxing on the banks or swimming. I didn't go swimming, but everyone who did looked to be having lots of fun. That night I had Shabbat dinner with the landlord again, and it was just as delicious as last week.
The next morning Amnon, the leader of ICNext, took me to an art museum in Ein Haroud near Bet She'an. He was doing a training program for the Israeli group Shinshinim, where Israelis take a gap year between high school and the army and become involved in volunteer and service activities to promote connections between Cleveland youths and Israel. The visit to the art museum was to start training them to be able to lead discussions and activities for teenagers at galleries in Cleveland of Israeli and Jewish art. While at the museum we had a tour of the galleries and learned how to best engage teenagers in a visit to an art gallery that they may not feel connected to. The visit was very interesting because these two aspects were combined. After visiting the museum we went to one of the Israeli's homes for lunch, which was a delicious feast. That night I joined ICNext for an evening of pizza making and "drum-circling".
It was really nice to visit with the kids from Cleveland. Getting to see familiar faces and speak English was a welcome break from working with Israelis every day. It was like a little visit from home.
Israel-Cleveland Next's website: http://www.icnext.org/
Information about Shinshinim: http://www.jewishagency.org/beit-shean-valley-springs-and-cleveland/program/9566
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